Wesch's Anthropology of 'YouTube' questions:

1. Sum up Michael Wesch's main point about the web (or Youtube in particular) in one paragraph.

Michael Wesch explains how if three television networks had been broadcasting for sixty years, between 1948 – 2008, for every hour during those sixty years it would be equal to 1.5 million hours of programming and ‘YouTube’ have produced more than this in the last six months and they did this without producers, just with people like you and me, anyone in the community. On ‘YouTube’ today there is over 9,000 hours which are uploaded every day which is the equivalent of almost 400 almost on TV channels but it’s not completely as it’s more like 2,000 three minute videos and 88% of the footage coming onto ‘YouTube’ is new and original content. Youtube creates a new type of platform as it was launched on April 23^rd 2005 for the reason that before this time it was exceedingly hard to upload videos to the web, and now because of this site everyone can contribute to this craze, making their videos available for the world to see. Now everyone with a webcam now has a stronger voice and presence. It’s a celebration of new forms of community and types of community that we’d never really seen before. It’s a global connection transcending through space and time, it’s again a celebration of new and unimaginable opportunities. 

2. Write down your understanding of the following terms used by Wesch: 'networked individualism', 'the invisible audience phenomenon', 'context collapse', and 'connection without constraint'.

-          “Networked Individualism” = Explains how thanks to the internet, individuals can get in touch with other individuals for all sorts of purposes, bypassing institutions, agencies and so on. For example, although you as an individual is talking to yourself on a webcam, you create a community with viewers whom you do not know.

-          “The invisible audience phenomenon” = This is the idea of how an individual is never fully aware of who is watching your video and when your video is being watched online.

-          “Context Collapse” = This is the idea of never knowing when you will be filmed and where you may be filmed. For instance, in today’s climate nearly every person’s mobile phone can take photographs and record video’s which can instantly be uploaded onto the internet and distributed across websites such as ‘Youtube, Twitter and Facebook.’ So citizens who are filmed on these devices are never aware of when they will be filmed.

3. On the whole do you agree with Wesch’s ideas?

I do agree with Wesch’s ideas for the reason that he explains how everything around us constantly revolves around the uses of the internet. In today’s climate it is more accessible for anyone to upload and publish videos, photographs, news information and so on, onto the internet via websites such as ‘Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia’. Not only does this promote democracy but it is also a help in hand in helping communities come together and become united as one. I can relate to this due to the fact that being a music fan, I continually stream music, download music and so on. But with having the internet more accessible I can now tweet music I like via ‘Twitter’ where citizens will come together commenting on the music I have posted expressing whether they like or dislike it to and will also make suggestions on other music that I should listen to based on the kind of music I have tweeted about previously. It’s all about people coming together with a common interest.

4. How might Wesch's ideas be applied to the music industry (at least, the production of music)?

Wesch’s ideas can clearly be applied to the music industry due to the fact that websites such as ‘YouTube’ are nowadays far more accessible and can be used as a platform for citizens to be able to record and upload their own footage onto the site which can then be viewed and distributed across other sites possibly making citizens videos go viral! The website enables artists to promote their music online cheaply for those who can't afford to use or rent out professional and large recording devices or recording studios. Artists can now be found on ‘YouTube’ just by simply typing their name into the search box making it easier for anyone to be found on the website. Additionally, due to the increase of social media, artists can also promote and distribute their music via social networking sites such as ‘Twitter/Facebook’ to gain popularity with their fans and to get their music out into the world for everyone to hear.